The Whiteboard: Timberwolves have to focus on Karl-Anthony Towns now

With Jimmy Butler reportedly on his way out of town, the Minnesota Timberwolves have to do anything and everything to convince Karl-Anthony Towns to stay.

Just a few days ago The Whiteboard was all about how bad it would be if the Minnesota Timberwolves ended up losing Jimmy Butler. It now looks like that is indeed happening. Instead of getting caught up trying to keep Butler, or doing anything else, Minnesota first has to figure out what would make Karl-Anthony Towns the happiest.

He should have always been the most important thing going on for the Timberwolves, but with Butler demanding a trade there now is no doubt that Towns is everything to the Wolves. Losing Jimmy Butler is bad, and will limit Minnesota’s upside. Losing Towns would take the Timberwolves back to square one as a franchise.

Tom Thibodeau has gotten a lot of grief for assembling the Timberbulls, but he’s now got a true challenge in front of him. This situation is messy, with Towns reportedly waiting to sign an extension with everything else that is going on. The Wolves absolutely have to do one thing–whatever the hell it is that gets Towns to put pen to paper.

It can be a negative for a franchise to kowtow to a star’s every demand, sure, but this situation is rare. Star players drafted high in the first round almost always sign up for more years and money with their first team when they can, with the idea of leaving later on if things really get bad. Towns not signing yet is a very worrying sign, especially considering there he had some reported interest in the Los Angeles Lakers before he was drafted.

This is now the single most important year for this iteration of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Either the Wolves figure this out to a degree and rebuild rapidly around Towns, or they end up having to start a rebuild essentially from the beginning. It hurts to lose a player of Jimmy Butler’s caliber, but Minnesota needs to move on and focus on their young cornerstone before it’s too late.

#Content you can’t miss

The whole story; Adrian Wojnarowski breaks down all of his reporting on the Butler situation, including that the Clippers are Jimmy’s top target

The other whole story; Jon Krawczyski has a whole lot of Jimmy Butler and Wolves stuff too

Minnesota moving on; Klay Byker picks three TWolves-friendly Jimmy Butler trades

The Brooklyn side; Phil Watson lays out exactly what news that Butler is interested in Brooklyn could mean for the Nets

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